Kendice Marshall_ Conversation 2

In in my initial reaction, I believed that in Beyonce’s song “Formation”, Beyonce wanted to express black excellence, beauty and called to the awareness of police brutality of black people. The video depicted the beauty of black culture specifically southern black culture. According to the article, Beyonce wanted to give a feminist lens and support of black love and awareness of the damage that America and society has done to the black family through racism and classism. Matsoukas used the drowning of the police car to symbolize the destruction black people but also used videos of dancing and the culture as a way to symbolize our existence and life.  Some emotive language used were the words ‘like’ and ‘gracious’. They allowed Beyonce to embrace and encourage the beauty of black love and black features whilst also encouraging peace and success as a way to defeat all odds and to ignore those who motivate the failure of your life and circumstances. The song was controversial because of the embracing of African features. For a long time,  even now, texturism, colorism, featurism, sexism, and racism have influenced the lives of black women and have put them in a stance of disenfranchisement compared to their counterparts. The song and video embrace the success and beauty of black women, black girls, and black love which has been systematically and socially damaged for decades. Beyonce and Matsoukas also called for the protection and awareness of black people especially in the wake of police brutality, miseducation and lack of policy protecting black people as well as a justice system that does not help or protect people of color.